Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Pat Burrell gets 1-year deal with SF Giants


Henry Schulman
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle

Pat Burrell, the local boy, is staying put.

Burrell and the Giants have reached agreement on a one-year contract, The Chronicle has confirmed. The value was not immediately available.

Burrell, 34, was a major contributor to the Giants' championship and their everyday left fielder for most of the season after the team signed him following his release by Tampa Bay.

He is expected to be a role player and his salary probably will reflect that.

Burrell hit 18 homers in 289 at-bats for the Giants, including a game-winning, two-run homer in the eighth inning against Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton on July 31 at AT&T Park.

Burrell grew up in the Santa Cruz area and attended Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose before going to the University of Miami.

New free agents: When general manager Brian Sabean comes to work Friday morning, he will see a list of new free agents to peruse as he seeks more shortstop help and more offense in general.

All teams must tender contracts to their unsigned players by 9 tonight PST. Many players who are eligible for salary arbitration will be "non-tendered" because their teams do not want to pay them at arbitration levels. Those players become free agents and could include Minnesota shortstop J.J. Hardy.

The Giants have eight players eligible for arbitration, far more than usual, and six are sure bets to get contract offers: pitchers Jonathan Sanchez, Ramon Ramirez, Javier Lopez and Santiago Casilla, plus outfielders Andres Torres and Cody Ross.

The two on the bubble are reliever Chris Ray and infielder Mike Fontenot. Ray was left off the postseason rosters and the Giants might need Fontenot's spot for a backup shortstop - Emmanuel Burriss or someone from the outside.

The Giants probably will try to cobble long-term deals with Sanchez, Torres, Lopez and Ross before arbitration hearings are scheduled for January.

Their one-year contract with Miguel Tejada is expected to be finalized today.






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